Secrecy and Security News

August 2002

The price of protection, by Tamara Lytle and Jim Leusner, Orlando Sentinel, August 29. "The new security regime already has brought economic costs, as well as changes affecting privacy, travel, immigration, criminal justice, civil rights and openness in government."

Marine Corps Message on Safeguarding Classified Information, from USMC Commandant Gen. James Jones, August 28. "Intentionally passing classified material to unauthorized recipients is a crime, whether to the media or foreign intelligence organizations. Military members who violate this trust will be prosecuted."

Rumsfeld on Leaks, Press, DoD town hall meeting, August 27. "There was a commercial satellite photograph on one of the television channels, showing exactly where our fighter aircraft and where our refueling aircraft were located on that airport."

Sandia Tried to Silence Criticism, Scientist Says by John Fleck, Albuquerque Journal, August 22. "Government officials tried to stop a Sandia National Laboratories scientist earlier this month from criticizing a U.S. senator in the Washington Post, the scientist said Wednesday."

Rumsfeld on Leaks (cont'd), DoD town hall meeting, August 21. "The unprofessionalism today is as bad as I have ever seen it in terms of the handling of classified information."

Sleuths Invade Military PCs With Ease, by Robert O'Harrow Jr., Washington Post, August 16. "Security consultants entered scores of confidential military and government computers without approval this summer, exposing vulnerabilities that specialists say open the networks to electronic attacks and spying."

Who's On PFIAB--A Bush Secret...Or Not?, by David Corn, The Nation, August 14. "Is the Bush Administration, in a break with the past, attempting to keep this important information secret? If so, the administration is doing a rather bad job."

DoD Project 112/SHAD Investigations Info Now On-Line, DoD press release, August 13. "A revised site now includes a status report of the declassification of medically relevant information of all Project 112 chemical and biological warfare agent tests conducted in the 1960s."

D.C. judge in center of storm, by Sharon Otterman, United Press International, August 9. "When Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that the names of hundreds of immigrants detained after Sept. 11 should be made public, she touched off a political firestorm."

All The Leaks On Iraq Plans: Is This Clever Or Confused?, by Peter Benesh, Investor's Business Daily, August 9. "The administration's mixed (up?) messages on the Big Iraq Attack make exciting copy... But what's real? And what isn't? How much is information, how much disinformation, how much misinformation?"

Accused Spy Bryan Regan Is In Court Today, National Public Radio Morning Edition, August 8. "A former Air Force intelligence officer, Regan has been accused of using his top-level security clearance to sell information to Iraq, China and Libya for millions of dollars."

Rumsfeld on Leaks (cont'd), interview with the National Journalists Roundtable, August 7. "I don't know what you heard me say about it but whatever it was, it was modulated and calibrated far below what I really feel."

High-tech industry makes mark in US war, by Chryss Cada, Boston Globe, August 5. "The government has begun to delegate certain tasks to the growing commercial satellite industry to save government satellites for more precise and classified work."

Army Warns Against Leaks (PDF), memo from Army Secretary Thomas White and Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki, August 2, 2002. "There is a healthy tension between the American public's right to know and the need for operational security, but it is not the responsibility of the members of the Army to resolve that tension."

Justice Department Statement on Court Order to Disclose Detainee Names, press release, August 2. "The Department of Justice believes today's ruling impedes one of the most
important federal law enforcement investigations in history, harms our efforts to bring to justice those responsible for the heinous attacks of September 11, and increases the risk of future terrorist threats to our nation."

Pentagon to issue wireless disconnect order, by Dan Verton, Computerworld, August 1. "The Defense Department plans to issue new policy guidelines that will ban most if not all wireless devices within military installations."